


I'll See You Tomorrow

by ReadySetDeath



Category: Fire Emblem Echoes: Mou Hitori no Eiyuu Ou | Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia
Genre: Angst, Goodbye, I wish they talked about this more in the game, Pre!Echoes, Saber's Past, angsty af, based on in-game dialogue
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-05
Updated: 2017-06-05
Packaged: 2018-11-09 06:30:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,182
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11098848
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ReadySetDeath/pseuds/ReadySetDeath
Summary: Saber says goodbye for the last time.





	I'll See You Tomorrow

“What's wrong, Lass? You seem down.”

She could only stutter, words failing her as her lips closed shut, gaze darting to a loose, discolored floorboard on the ground. She was sure her face betrayed her troubled thoughts, mouth in a frown and eyes scrunched up as she felt the back of a hand rest gently on her cheek. She turned her gaze back to him, the gentle touch contrasting...well, everything about him. The stubble on his chin, the small sack of coins on his belt and the beer on his breath, the flaming red hair, his Rigelian heritage, the fucking eyepatch for Mila’s sake...everything about him screamed dangerous. Stay away. He was a sword for hire, one so good and so famous even the other mercenaries told stories about him. People who had never met him knew his name, knew of his deeds, and he was about as far from royalty as you could get.

Yet, here he was, the rough skin of his scarred fingers holding her cheek with the gentlest of touches. He was always careful, always considerate, worn hands treating everything as if it were made of glass. She'd never seen him break anything, even when he was drunk - and when he was drunk, she usually didn't know about it. He kept the rotten parts of himself from her, the things he considered uncouth stayed with its kind, in the taverns, away from home. She didn't know what he did out there, not really, only that some days, he came back more solemn than others, thinking, footsteps soft as he tread silently through the house, studying things as if he'd never see it again.

Studying her.

“Lass?”

If everything was made of glass, then she was a diamond. A precious gemstone, something that he knew was strong and unbreakable and yet...he treated it with the utmost care, always looking after it, always so careful never to let it drop. He was gentle, always ensuring that it had what it needed to shine, watchful and sad as it grew dirtier with time, do everything in his power to keep it sparkling, but never enough. It got older, and so did he.

“Please...don't get hurt.”

She watched his eyes widen slightly as his grip on her chin loosened, watched him work to keep the scowl off his face as his gaze dropped to the ground. He couldn't look her in the eye, not yet at least, so she stared at the silver pattern on his eyepatch, eyes ever watchful. She didn't miss the way his shoulders sagged slightly, the grim expression never leaving his face, his eyes trained on what she could tell was the loose nail in the corner. He wouldn't lie to her. He was honest, brutally so, more than many of his kind, so to speak. He was a part of that world, weaved into the very fabric of it, and there was no getting out, no matter how much he didn't belong there. No matter how much better he was than all of them.

“You know I can't promise that...it's kinda my job.”

She would never forget the day he came home with the eyepatch around his head, looking worse than she'd ever seen him, before or since. Dirt so built up it looked like it had been rubbed into his skin, turning the deep cuts from red to a blackish-brown around the edges. He toed the line between stubble and a beard, eyes so tired and beaten that she wondered if he'd lost his soul along with his eye. He held her all night as she cried, never leaving her side, always keeping his composure, gently stroking her hair as he held her close to his chest. She could only stare at the scar on his arm as she remembered, remembered how he smelled like war as opposed to spice and a late-night beer, how he felt thin and starved instead of strong and steadfast. She remembered how he never cried, not once, except for when he thought she wasn't looking, that she'd finally fallen asleep in his arms, and had counted his teardrops as they fell. One. Two. Three. No more. No less.

“Please. Come home safe.”

He looked at her again, his eye wordlessly searching both of hers, scowl gone, gaze sincere. There was no animosity there, there never was, never would be - he’d accepted his place here, the way of life that had worked its way into his very marrow, never kind, never leaving. He'd done things that neither could speak about, things she probably didn't know the half of - and oddly, she didn't mind. He did what he had to, and honestly, it was better him than someone else. In an ironic way, he was doing the people somewhat of a service. It was a twisted way of thinking about it, but true nonetheless, and as his renown grew, and the secrets he was privy to grew larger, so too did the bounty no doubt placed upon his head in secret.

“Alright.”

He was sincere, always sincere, always loving as he stood up from his crouch, gently tipping her head down to lay a kiss upon her forehead. His lips were chapped, but his touch was gentle, almost dainty, moving with a kind of grace and carefulness only executed by those who had seen too many a life taken. He smiled as he made his way to the door, smile soft, genuine, beautiful...but small. Almost a smirk, if you looked at it wrong. There was little room for happiness where they were, and very few things to rejoice about, but this...these moments were one of them. These few, small moments, carefully crafted in the light of the falling moon, in the late dusk where the first of the stars had already disappeared. It had been one of those nights, she knew, where he was more solemn than others, and this one was different still. There was something...final about it. Something brooding in the darkness she was no longer scared of, something ticking like the oil running out of the lamp. She heard rather than saw his footsteps make their way towards the door as she stared at the flickering of the frame, only turning when she heard the door creak, watching him smile over at her again. It was a sad smile, this time, yet somehow bigger than any she'd seen on him in years. He looked so young then, yet so old at the same time; someone who had heard far too much. Seen too much. Done too much.

She smiled back, soft, barely there, head tilted at an angle, back hunched slightly where she sat.

“I'll see you tomorrow morning.”

He always said that, even though he most certainly would not be back tomorrow morning, and they both knew it.

“I'll see you tomorrow.”

 

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

 

"Yeah. I got a little sister.  
Ain't seen her in forever, but I assume she's fairing fine. 

She kinda looks like you, now that I think on it."


End file.
